Jesus showed them his glory!

Mark 9:2-10

Six days later Jesus took Peter, James and John to the top of a mountain. No one else was there. Suddenly his face began to shine with glory, and his clothing became dazzling white, far more glorious than any earthly process could ever make it! Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus! “Teacher, this is wonderful!” Peter exclaimed. “We will make three shelters here, one for each of you. . . . ” He said this just to be talking, for he didn’t know what else to say and they were all terribly frightened. But while he was still speaking these words, a cloud covered them, blotting out the sun, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Then suddenly they looked around and Moses and Elijah were gone, and only Jesus was with them. As they descended the mountainside he told them never to mention what they had seen until after he had risen from the dead. So they kept it to themselves, but often talked about it, and wondered what he meant by “rising from the dead.”

Food for thought!

The Gospel says, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves. And He was transfigured before them. In other words, the Jesus changed forms on the mountain. The glory that was concealed within Him was revealed on that mountain. You see, this was not the first time Jesus had experienced a transfiguration. When He was born in Bethlehem, Jesus concealed the glory of His deity behind the veil of His human body. On this occasion, the glory on the inside burst forth to the outside.

Jesus had twelve disciples, so why just these three? Why did Jesus choose to show his glory to a few and not to the many? Jesus showed his glory not before a crowd, not even before the twelve disciples, but before only THREE people. It means that Jesus was at his best before just three of his twelve disciples. As you know, many of us are at our best away from home; we show our true colours at our place of work, at the church, at where there's a gathering, and never at home, never before the spouse and children. Unfortunately, our dear ones never come to see our glory, but the outsiders. Jesus showed his glory to only three people.

Some people are very good as professionals, they're very good people at work, but at home, they shout at and harass, and sometimes beat their spouses and children. If you are of those people who do smile all the time at work, but frown all the time at home, consider today's gospel reading. Your Peter and John and James are your spouse and children; show your glory first to them before you show it to the rest of us. Jesus showed his glory first to three before he showed them to the whole world at the resurrection. Have you ever noticed the kind of clothes you use at home and at work?

(Home work: when and where do you show your glory? When and where are you at your best? When you're with the twelve or when you're with the three? When you're at work, or when you're at home? When and where do people say that it is good to be in your company? At home or at work? WHO SEES YOUR GLORY?)

We normally say, charity begins at home. I go further: love also begins at home; forgiveness begins at home; our glory also begins at home. But it does not end there. It only begins at home.

Peter and John and James were chosen on this day to experience something special and later to witness; they were especially chosen to go thru an experience and later witness to others.

As you know, the Lord continues to choose us for special experiences; He selects us to make and have special experiences. Your kind of experiences, your kind of life, your kind of problems and joys and suffering, all you are going thru is what the Lord has chosen you to experience AND witness. So next time you wonder and ask yourself why you're going thru that experience, next time you wonder and ask, but why me, why this one on me again, remember that Jesus carefully chooses us for special experiences in order to witness, in order to tell of our tale, in order to, when it is all over, tell others of our ordeal.

Be like our heavenly Father!

Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’

Food for thought!

What are you doing exceptional? This is the question that Jesus made then and makes now to all those, like you and me, who claim to be his followers. What more than others are we doing? Is there any difference between other people and we, Christians? Are we different in any way? Is there anything we do different? Is there any difference between you, a Christian, and your neighbour, a non-believer or non Christian? This is the real food for thought.
Why does Jesus demand that we be different? The reason is very simple and tremendous: it is that our role model is not just human but divine; we cannot compare ourselves to other humans, but to our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father makes his sun to rise on the good and the bad; he sends his rain on the just and the unjust. Have you ever noticed that the rain fell on the field of A, who was righteous, and not on the field of B, who was wicked? Or that the sun rose and shone on your home and not upon the neighbour's home?
Jesus says that we must have this same love of our Father in heaven. The language in which the Bible was written is not rich in adjectives; it often uses the expression “son of...” with an abstract noun where we would normally use an adjective. For instance a son of peace is a peaceful man; a son of consolation is a consoling man. So, the expression “Son of God” means a godly man. The reason why we must be godly is that our God has it; and, if we have it, we become nothing less than sons of God; we become godly.

What more than others are you doing? This same question can be applied to all other forms of life, even to our professional life, even our social life. If you run your business just like anybody else does, your business will be like anybody's business. If your life is like anybody's life, you will be like anybody. Ordinary actions get ordinary results. Most people are by definition, ordinary, they are just like anybody else. If you continue to be ordinary and act ordinarily, you will continue to get ordinary results. If you want extraordinary results in your life, your family or your business, you must act extraordinarily in that area.

"You have learnt … But I say to you!"

Matthew 5:20-26

Jesus said to his disciples, If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. ‘You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, "You fool!" shall be liable to the hell of fire. So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. I tell you solemnly, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.’

Food for thought!

"You have learnt … But I say to you."
In these words, Jesus shows us that he knows that we have other teachers. He says, You have learnt! This means that indeed, there are other teachers in this world, besides Jesus. He knows it. This is not the point, though. The point is that Jesus tells us that notwithstanding what we have learnt from whoever has taught us, he wants us to drop that teaching right now and adopt his teaching.
But I say to you.
This saying means that regardles of what we have learnt…Jesus teaches us something else. Yes, many times in contradiction to what we know; Jesus sometimes contradicts us in what we know. Jesus speaks with an authority which no other man had ever dreamed of assuming: the authority which Jesus assumed always amazed those who came into contact with him. Right at the beginning of his ministry, after he had been teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum, it is said of his hearers: "They were astonished at his teaching; for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the Scribes" (Mk.1:22).
Jesus took the highest wisdom of men and corrected it, because he was who he was. He did not need to argue; it was sufficient for him to speak. No one can honestly face Jesus and honestly listen to him without feeling that this is God's last word beside which all other teaching is inadequate, and all other wisdom out of date.
But startling as was Jesus' accent of authority, the standard which he put before men was more startling yet. Jesus said that in God's sight it was not only the man who committed murder who was guilty, the man who was angry with his brother was also guilty and liable to judgment. Here was something which was entirely new, something which we have not yet fully grasped. It was Jesus' teaching that it was not enough not to commit murder; the only thing sufficient was never even to wish to commit murder.

It may be that we have never struck another person; but who can say that he never wished to strike another person? It was Jesus' teaching that thoughts are just as important as deeds, and that it is not enough not to commit a sin; the only thing that is enough is not to wish to commit it. It was Jesus' teaching that a man is not judged only by his deeds, but is judged even more by the desires which never emerged in deeds. By the world's standards a man is a good man, if he never does a forbidden thing. The world is not concerned to judge his thoughts. By Jesus' standards, a man is not a good man until he never even desires to do a forbidden thing. Jesus is intensely concerned with our thoughts.

Pray for rain and carry an umbrella!

Matthew 7:7-12

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. Is there a man among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

‘So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.’

Food for thought

Jesus taught us many things; but he especially taught us to pray because he knows the power of prayer. The strongest action that you can take in any action is to go on your knees and ask God for help. Again, if we can beat the devil on prayer (if we can maintain prayer in our life) we can beat him on anything else. But if the devil can beat us on prayer (if he can make us drop prayer in our life), he can beat us in everything else. The devil smiles when we make plans; he laughs when we get too busy; but he trembles when we pray.
Pray for rain and carry an umbrella!
Another thing that Jesus teaches us is our attitude to prayer; it is how to pray. Consider this one: during a morning worship service, Ellen noticed a nice looking man sitting by himself on the back pew. As a single woman she had a vested interest in meeting him. She approached him with an extended hand and said, "Hi. I'm Ellen." He took one look at her and bolted out the door without saying a word. The following Sunday he returned to church and made this apology: "My name is Bob Price, and I owe you an apology for my rude behavior last Sunday. You see, my deceased wife's name was Ellen, and I had been praying, 'Dear God, please send me another Ellen.' When you approached me and said, 'Hi. I'm Ellen,' I lost it." Bob and Ellen have now been married twelve years and are both very thankful for the way God answered Bob's prayer.

So when you pray for a woman or man, be on the lookout; God will make her or him pass by; prepare yourself for one; dress yourself for one, talk and behave as if you have one. When you pray for anything, believe and behave that you have it. When you pray for money, fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say “I want plenty of money.” Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money. This is what Jesus taught us to do in Mark 11:24 “You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you have it; it’s yours!.”

Jesus is also teaching us to pray without ceasing; to keep on keeping on, no matter how hard the praying may be. Our main weaknesses is our familiarity with the word “impossible.” We know all the rules which will not work. We knows all the things which cannot be done. And Jesus is saying, JUST BELIEVE THAT IT IS POSSIBLE. If the thing you wish to do or get is right, and you believe in it, go ahead and do or get it! Put your dream across, and never mind what “they” say if you meet with temporary defeat, for “they,” perhaps, do not know that every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success. There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing, until he believes he can acquire it. The state of mind must be belief, not mere hope or wish. In other words, pray and believe that you will get what you pray for.

Jesus is more than kings (Solomon) and prophets (Jonah)!

Luke 11:29-32

Now as the crowds were [increasingly] thronging Him, He began to say, “This present generation is a wicked one; it seeks and demands a sign (miracle), but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah [the prophet]. For [just] as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will also the Son of Man be [a sign] to this age and generation. The queen of the South will arise in the judgment with the people of this age and generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the [inhabited] earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and notice, here is more than Solomon. The men of Nineveh will appear as witnesses at the judgment with this generation and will condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, here is more than Jonah.

Food for thought!

Great number of people kept coming to Jesus, not to get Jesus but his miracles. Sounds familiar? Many people today go to Jesus not because of Jesus himself but in search of miracles of Jesus; many go to church not of Jesus but because of someone. This is what Jesus is condemning in the Gospel reading.

Not only Jesus, we too experience this phenomenon in our lives. There are people who seek us only when they're in need; they come to get what we have and never to give us what we need. This is what Jesus condemns. "This present generation is a wicked one; it seeks and demands a sign (miracle), but no sign shall be given to it." Jesus is saying that the people of his time came to him for his miracles. They forgot that miracles are everywhere.

God comes and lives in the ordinary. That is why the best way to serve the Lord is to do our ordinary and daily duties extraordinarily well. If we had the eyes of the queen of Sheba or of the people of Nineveh, we would see God all in all the ordinary. Yes, God is not only in the churches but everywhere, including in our offices, homes, streets and neighbourhood.

Long ago, the queen of the South came from the far away just to listen to Solomon because she saw in Solomon the hand of God. And later the prophet Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh, and because of his sermons, the people repented. In other words, the people were able to go beyond the man of God to the God of the man.

Jesus is saying that he is more than the king Solomon and the prophet Jonah. Jesus is more than kings and prophets. Jesus is God made visible. Jesus "is the image of the unseen God coming into existence before all living things; For by him all things were made, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, authorities, lords, rulers, and powers; all things were made by him and for him; He is before all things, and in him all things have being." (Col. 1:15-17). To him be praise and honour and glory, both now and forever. Amen.

And make us free of our debts as we free others of their debts!

Matthew 6:7-15

And in your prayer do not make use of the same words again and again, as the Gentiles do: for they have the idea that God will give attention to them because of the number of their words. So be not like them; because your Father has knowledge of your needs even before you make your requests to him. Let this then be your prayer:

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. Let your kingdom come. Let your pleasure be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day bread for our needs. And make us free of our debts, as we have made those free who are in debt to us. And let us not be put to the test, but keep us safe from the Evil One. For if you let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will have forgiveness from your Father in heaven. But if you do not let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will not have forgiveness from your Father for your sins.

Food for thought!

Jesus teaches us something very important: "And make us free of our debts, as we have made those free who are in debt to us. ... For if you let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will have forgiveness from your Father in heaven. But if you do not let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will not have forgiveness from your Father for your sins."

Why did Jesus teach us this? Because he knows us all; Jesus knows what is in man. Sin. Many of us resent being treated as sinners. The trouble is that most people have a wrong conception of sin. They would readily agree that the burglar, the drunkard, the murderer, the adulterer, the suicide bomber is a sinner. And since many people are not guilty of none of these sins, since many people live decent, ordinary, respectable lives, and have never even been in danger of appearing in court, or going to prison, or getting some notoriety in the newspapers, they therefore feel that sin has nothing to do with them. Many Christians don't know their sins. It is always the others who sin, not ourselves. So we think.

So, we do well to consider sin. What is sin, according to the Bible? The Bible uses different words for sin. It uses the word sin to mean a missing of the target. To fail to hit the target is according to the Bible sin. Therefore sin is the failure to be what we might have been and could have been; when we fail to be what God made us to be, we sin.
Are we as good husbands or wives as we could be? Are we as good sons or daughters as we could be? Are we as good workmen or employers as we could be? Is there anyone who will dare to claim that he is all he might have been, and has done all he could have done? When we realize that sin means the failure to hit the target, the failure to be all that we might have been and could have been, then it is clear that many of us are sinners without knowing it.

The Bible uses sin to mean a debt. It means a failure to pay that which is due, a failure in duty. There can be no man or woman who will ever dare to claim that he has perfectly fulfilled his duty to man and to God. So, then, when we come to see what sin really is, we come to see that it is a universal disease in which everybody is involved. Outward respectability in the sight of man, and inward sinfulness in the sight of God may well go hand in hand for most of us. For that reason, this is a petition of the Lord's Prayer which every one of us needs to pray regularly.

The Bible uses the word sin to mean a stepping across. Sin is the stepping across the line which is drawn between right and wrong. Do we always stay on the right side of the line which divides honesty and dishonesty? Do we always stay on the right side of the line which divides truth and falsehood? Do we never, by word or by silence, twist or evade or distort the truth? When we think of it in this way, there can be none of us who can claim always to have remained on the right side of the dividing line. For this reason, Jesus taught the Our Father, not to some people but to all of us; to you and me.

When and what you did to them you did to me!

Matthew 25:31-46

“But when I, the Messiah, shall come in my glory, and all the angels with me, then I shall sit upon my throne of glory. And all the nations shall be gathered before me. And I will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and place the sheep at my right hand, and the goats at my left. “Then I, the King, shall say to those at my right, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, into the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me water; I was a stranger and you invited me into your homes; naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Sir, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you anything to drink? Or a stranger, and help you? Or naked, and clothe you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’ “And I, the King, will tell them, ‘When you did it to these my brothers, you were doing it to me!’ Then I will turn to those on my left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry and you wouldn’t feed me; thirsty, and you wouldn’t give me anything to drink; a stranger, and you refused me hospitality; naked, and you wouldn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ “And I will answer, ‘When you refused to help the least of these my brothers, you were refusing help to me.’ “And they shall go away into eternal punishment; but the righteous into everlasting life.”

Food for thought!

This is one of the most vivid parables Jesus ever spoke, and the lesson is crystal clear--that God will judge us in accordance with our reaction to human need; judgement will be according to how we treated each other's needs. Yes, God's judgment will not depend on the knowledge we have amassed, or the fame that we have acquired, or the fortune that we have gained, or on the number of prayers we have made, not even on the creed we have professed or the church we went to. It will depend on the deeds we have done in life. God's judgement will depend on the help that we have given.

There are some things that this parable teaches us about the help which we must give.

(i) It must be help in simple things. The things which Jesus picks out--giving a hungry man a meal, or a thirsty man a drink, welcoming a stranger, cheering the sick, visiting the prisoner--are things which anyone can do. It is not a question of giving away thousands of dollars or of writing our names in the annals of history; it is a case of giving simple help to the people we meet every day. There never was a parable which so opened the way to heaven to the simplest people.

(ii) It must be help which is uncalculating. Those who helped did not think that they were helping Christ and thus piling up eternal merit; they helped because they could not stop themselves. It was the natural, instinctive, quite uncalculating reaction of the loving heart.

On the other hand, the attitude of those who failed to help was; "If we had known it was you we would gladly have helped; but we thought it was only some common man who was not worth helping." It is still true that there are those who will help if they are given praise and thanks and publicity; but to help like that is not to help, it is to build self-esteem. Such help is not generosity; it is disguised selfishness. The help which wins the approval of God is that which is given for nothing but the sake of helping.

This Lent, let us think of some ways we can use our mind, our energy, our money and our time. Is there something constructive that we can do that could make a difference in someone's life? Remember, “little things can mean a lot.”

Welcome to Lent! Welcome to the desert!

Mark 1:12-15

Immediately the Holy Spirit urged Jesus into the desert. There, for forty days, alone except for desert animals, he was subjected to Satan’s temptations to sin. And afterwards the angels came and cared for him. Later on, after John was arrested by King Herod, Jesus went to Galilee to preach God’s Good News. “At last the time has come!” he announced. “God’s Kingdom is near! Turn from your sins and act on this glorious news!”

Food for thought!

A mother camel and her baby are talking one day and the baby camel asks, “Mom why have we got these huge three-toed feet?” The mother replies, “To enable us trek across the soft sand of the desert without sinking.” “And why have we got these long, heavy eyelashes?” “To keep the sand out of our eyes on the trips through the desert ”replies the mother camel. “And Mom, why have we got these big humps on our backs?” The mother, now a little impatient with the boy replies, “They are there to help us store fat for our long treks across the desert, so we can go without water for long periods.” “OK, I get it!” says the baby camel, “We have huge feet to stop us sinking, long eyelashes to keep the sand from our eyes and humps to store water. Then, Mom, why the heck are we here in the Toronto zoo?” Modern life sometimes makes one feel like a camel in a zoo. And like camels in a zoo we need sometimes to go into the desert in order to discover who we truly are. Lent invites us to enter into this kind of desert experience.

In today’s gospel we read that after Jesus was baptized “Immediately the Holy Spirit urged Jesus into the desert. There, for forty days, alone except for desert animals, he was subjected to Satan’s temptations to sin. And afterwards the angels came and cared for him.” Many times, we as Christians feel the same way Jesus did…when we become a Christian and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior (our baptism), shouldn’t we be protected? We, understandably, assume that life should be “easier”; we feel certain that we should instantly have a closer relationship with God. We can falsely believe that we no longer have to endure “deserts and wildernesses”in our lives. But, then, suddenly, one day, in one moment in time, we find ourselves in a wilderness.

When we make a stand in our faith, when we decide to get in the boat with Jesus, Satan unleashes his rage against us. We are now “officially”his enemy, and the true battle has begun. Shockingly, as we take each step of faith, our temptations seem to actually come more often than before we believed! When we’re faced with the desert experiences, we find ourselves crying out, “Why is this happening to me? Why am I in this desert? If You’re a God of love, why all this pain? Why do the innocent suffer? If You’re a God of order, why all the chaos? If You’re so powerful, why do You seem so incapable? By the way, where are You?”It is at this time that we need to be reminded of the Truth: Jesus told us in John 16: 33, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
It’s interesting that the most violent storm the twelve disciples ever experienced was when Jesus, the Son of God, was in the boat with them (Mark 4:35-41). In other words, in the most violent storms and deserts and wildernesses of your life…Jesus is in it with you, too. Don’t be deceived, Jesus didn’t come to get you out of the deserts and storms of your life; He came to take you through them.

In the desert Jesus encountered beasts and angels. There are wild beasts and angels in everyone of us. Sometimes, owing to our superficial self knowledge, we fail to distinguish the wild beasts in us from the the angels. The desert was the school where Jesus came to distinguish between the voice of God which he should follow and the voice of Satan which is temptation. How many voices do we hear from the moment we get up in the morning till the moment we go to sleep at night? The countless voices in the daily paper, the soliciting voices on the radio and the television, the voices of those who live and work with us, not forgetting our own unceasing inner voices.

In this time of Lent, we can all create a desert space in our overcrowded lives. We can set aside a place and time to be alone daily with God, a time to distance ourselves from the many noises and voices that bombard our lives every day, a time to hear God’s word, a time to rediscover who we are before God and before our dear ones, a time to say yes to God and no to Satan as Jesus did. Welcome to Lent! Welcome to the desert!

I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners!

Luke5:27-32
Jesus noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting by the customs house, and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything he got up and followed him. In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples and said, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus said to them in reply, ‘It is not those who are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance.’Food for thought!
As Jesus walked along the shores of Galilee, He passed a man named Levi who was working at the booth where taxes were collected. Levi was a tax collector. And Jesus saw him seating by the tax office. Why would Jesus have any use for a man like this? In spite of his occupation; his lifestyle; his failures; and his sin; Jesus loved Levi and He called him to a new life. 
No one is beyond hope. I am sure that most people in Capernaum had given up on Levi. The good religious people of the city snubbed him as they passed by and wrote him off as a lost cause. Jesus, however, knew that his life could still be used. He loved him in spite of his past and his problems and He delivered Levi from the bondage of his sins and gave him a new life. No one is beyond the reach of our redeeming Lord.
Jesus sees the hidden potential in our lives – Jesus saw something in Levi that nobody else could see! This man would be given a new name. He would become known as Matthew, (Matt. 9:9). He would be a faithful follower of Jesus; he would one day write a Gospel, The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St. Matthew. Never give up! Keep praying, keep walking and working. Keep believing! One day you too will write a Gospel of your own; God works in ways that you can’t even imagine! Give him a chance!

Who needs the doctor? Of course the sick people. And who are the sick people? This is a hard one. It is hard for me and you to think that we need a doctor. The question to ask ourselves: Are we sick? Of what? Do we need Jesus? And does Jesus need someone like we? Let us look at the Gospel of today for answers to these questions.

Let Jesus do the talking!

Matthew 9:14-15

John’s disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’

Food for thought!

John's disciple came to Jesus after they had observed his disciples behaving differently; they wanted to know why their behaviour was not like theirs. Their behaviour had changed; THEY WERE DIFFERENT. ‘Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ They said.

Jesus' disciples were different because they had taken a stand. After knowing Jesus, they just could not be like they didn't know him. They were different because of Jesus. No one can take Jesus serious and be the same; something in us has to change because of Jesus; there has to be something we are or we do because of Jesus. If people don't see any difference in us, if we are like anybody else, then we are not yet Christians.

So the question is, what is it that you do different? Are you like anybody else? What do you do just because of Jesus? Do you dare to be different, or you follow the mob? Can you say like Paul said: "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" (Phil 3:8).

What Paul is saying is that, after knowing Jesus, he is different; he now counts everything as loss because of and after knowing Jesus. And this is what the disciples of Jesus did: because of Jesus they were no longer observing some traditions and rules.

I like the fact that Jesus replied; he explained his disciples' behaviour: ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’ Some times we do well to let Jesus do the explanation about us. There are many mysteries about us, about others that we just can't explain. The only one who can answer for us is the Lord. To him be glory and honour and praise both now and for ever.

There cannot be victory without a fight!

Luke 9:22-25

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’ Then to all he said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’

Food for thought!

Jesus said (and says) to his disciples that things will get worse before they get better. He knows that he is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the religious people and political leaders of the people. He knows too that he will be put to death, and that he will be raised up on the third day. Jesus is talking of himself, yes, but also he is talking of every human. Suffering comes before victory; indeed, there cannot be victory without a fight; no crown without a cross; no Easter Sunday without Good Friday; no day without a night.
This is why Jesus exhorts us to take our cross, our struggle, our fight every day and follow his example, because this is the way we can ever make a difference in the world. Here Jesus lays down the conditions of service for those who would follow him in trying to make a difference in their life and in the lives of others.
He says that we must deny ourselves. What does that mean? A great scholar comes at the meaning in this way. Peter once denied his Lord. That is to say, he said of Jesus, "I do not know the man." To deny ourselves is to say, "I do not know myself." It is to ignore the very existence of oneself. It is to treat the self as if it did not exist. Usually we treat ourselves as if our self was the center of the world. If we are to follow Jesus' example, we have to know that the center of the world is God and not man.
He says that we must take up our cross. What does that mean? To take up our cross means to be prepared to face things; it means to be ready to endure the worst that man can do to us for the sake of being true, for the sake of doing and being good. As we said yesterday, whenever we do the right thing, we are bound to be criticized and "crucified" by others.
He says that we must spend our life, not hoard it. The whole gamut of the world's standards must be changed. As yesterday's message put it, the questions are not, "How much can I get?" but, "How much can I give?" Not, "What is the safe thing to do?" but, "What is the right thing to do?" Not, "What is the minimum permissible in the way of work?" but, "What is the maximum possible?" The Christian must realize that s/he is given life to spend it for others, just as Jesus did. 

Cr

It is Lent!

Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice; by doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win men’s admiration. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what
your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

‘And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them; I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to your private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

‘When you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces to let men know they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.’

Food for thought!

As we enter into Lenten period, Jesus gives us some dos and don'ts. The dos are intended for getting benefit from Lent; the don't are meant to minimize the losses. He groups them into three areas: giving to others (charity); giving to God (prayer); and giving to ourselves (fast).

Jesus says, "when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you." What does he mean by this? Firstly, Jesus says, WHEN YOU GIVE, not, IF YOU GIVE. It means that in this time of Lent we are expected to give, to share with others. Giving is not optional (it is not "If you give" but mandatory: "when you give"). Giving is vital, because it is by giving that we get. In order to get we must give.
That is the rule. And it works in every sphere of life, business, social, relationships, spiritual. You get in as much you give, as St. Francis so well taught us:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

And then Jesus says, "when you pray," not, "if you pray." It means that in this time of Lent prayer is a must. We pray every day, but in this time, it must doubled. Why? Because Lent is like going into a warfare. It is a matter of life and death. If we don't pray enough, we can lose the battle. As St Paul urges us: "Pray without ceasing." (1Thessalonians 5:17). Christ himself admonishes us: "Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." (Mark 14:38). St Theresa of Avila, a Doctor of the Church, makes it potently clear: "He who neglects mental prayer needs not a devil to carry him to hell, but he brings himself there with his own hands.

We are not talking now about our regular, daily quiet-time prayer habits, important as they are; we are talking about crisis-time prayers. Prayers of importunity and intensity. Prayers during life-threatening or soul-shattering events. “Pray hard and long,” Paul wrote in Ephesians 6: 18.

And again Jesus says, "When you fast"; he does not say, "if you fast." So fasting too is a must in this time of the year. When you fast, "put oil on your head and wash your face, so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is
done in secret will reward you.’" This is the time to fight all evil in ourselves; this is the time to starve evil to death. Fast is not necessarily of food; it is anything that, by abstaining from it, gives both our bodies and spirit more life. This is the time to cease doing evil and to learn doing good (Isaiah 1:16-17).

HAVE A NICE A BLESSED LENTEN SEASON!

Or do you not remember?

Mark 8:14-21

The disciples had forgotten to take any food and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Then he gave them this warning, ‘Keep your eyes open; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’ And they said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ And Jesus knew it, and he said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand? Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear? Or do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ They answered, ‘Twelve.’ And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ And they answered, ‘Seven.’ Then he said to them, ‘Are you still without perception?’

Food for thought!

The incident in this gospel is very revealing of the disciples of Jesus. Although they had witnessed Jesus perform many miracles, they still had doubts about who He really was. Just as we have seen God work miracles in our own lives, yet we so easily forget them. Jesus says, “Don’t you remember” (Matthew 16: 9)?

And Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand? Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear? Or do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ They answered, ‘Twelve.’ And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ And they answered, ‘Seven.’ Then he said to them, ‘Are you still without perception?’

The Disciples were truly the closest men to the Son of God; yet, we see that even they were slow to learn about who Jesus really was. They saw with their own eyes all of the miracles He performed, but they still could not connect the dots. A little surprising… don’t you think?

What Jesus teaches here is the failure to learn from experience. The Pharisees were awhile ago demanding a sign from Jesus (as we saw yesterday) because they weren't seeing any sign of God from experience. They weren't learning anything from life; nothing! Why demand a miracle when miracles are all over?

This is the lesson that the disciples missed, just as we often do. Even after experiencing and witnessing the miracles of Jesus, they could not still connect the dots. They could think of nothing but the fact that they had forgotten to bring loaves, and that, unless something happened, they would go hungry. Jesus saw their preoccupation with bread. He reminded them that twice he had satisfied the hunger of huge crowds with food enough and to spare. It is as if he said, "Why all the worry? Don't you remember what happened before? Hasn't experience taught you that you don't need to worry about things like that if you are with me?" DO YOU STILL NOT GET IT?

The odd fact is that we learn only half the lessons of experience. Too often we too fail to learn from experience. Sorrow came--and we came through it still erect. Temptation came--and somehow we did not fall. Illness took us--and somehow we recovered. A problem seemed insoluble--and somehow it was solved. We were at our wits' end--and somehow we went on. We reached the breaking point--and somehow we did not break. We, too, are blind and slow learners. If we would only read the lessons of experience aright, they would teach us not pessimism but optimism; the things each one of us has gone thru, ought to teach us to trust God in the things yet to come; if God has brought us this far in safety, God can bring us through anything that may happen to us. Or you don't still get it?

Why does this generation demand a sign?

Mark 8:11-13

The Pharisees came up and started a discussion with Jesus; they demanded of him a sign from heaven, to test him. And with a sigh that came straight from the heart he said, ‘Why does this generation demand a sign? I tell you solemnly, no sign shall be given to this generation.’ And leaving them again and re-embarking, he went away to the opposite shore.

Food for thought

Sometimes we get used to the ordinary, and we begin to take the ordinary for granted, and then start to look for the extraordinary, the abnormal and the sensational. We do this even with God. The people in the Gospel reading of today came to Jesus and demanded “a sign from heaven.”

When the Pharisees came to Jesus and demanded something extraordinary, something uncommon, they were looking for some ABNORMAL event that defies the laws of nature; something to entertain themselves with. To Jesus such a demand was not due to the desire to see the hand of God at work; it was due to the fact that they were blind to the hand of God at work in him. They forgot, as we do often, that God is everywhere and in every event of life: "In him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)

Do you see God's hand at work in your life, or in the life others? Or you see your life as a mess without meaning, without sense? Or you are able to see meaning and sense and the hand of God at work in your life? To Jesus the whole world is full of God's presence; the corn in the field, the leaven in the loaf, the grass on the hillside, the new born baby all speak of God. Jesus did not think that God had to break in from outside the world; he knew that God was already in the world for anyone who had eyes to see.

Someone once said, "Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, the rest sit round it and pluck blackberries." This poet was referring to Moses and the burning bush. Why does anyone ask a sign from God when morning after morning he or she wakes up from sleep alive, when everyday the sun arises, each night the stars appear, each morning the thirsty grass is wet with dew; the corn fails not its harvest, nor the air stops to blow. Imagine what would happen to the airplanes if all the air stopped blowing, what would happen to you and me if all the air disappeared? From him who has eyes to see and a heart to understand, the daily miracle of night and day and the daily splendour of all common things are enough sign from God.

Do not tell anyone!

Mark 1:40-45

A leper came to him, begging on his knees, "If you want to, you can cleanse me." Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, "I want to. Be clean." Then and there the leprosy was gone, his skin smooth and healthy. Jesus dismissed him with strict orders: "Say nothing to anyone. Take the offering for cleansing that Moses prescribed and present yourself to the priest. This will validate your healing to the people." But as soon as the man was out of earshot, he told everyone he met what had happened, spreading the news all over town. So Jesus kept to out- of- the- way places, no longer able to move freely in and out of the city. But people found him, and came from all over.

Food for thought!

It is curious and interesting. Jesus is telling someone not to tell anyone: "Say nothing to anyone." The common practice is the opposite, especially when we do something good. We even call the Press to come and broadcast what we have done. Not so with Jesus. But why would Jesus tell anybody not to tell anybody?


The lesson is simple: Not everything Jesus does for us or tells us is for telling; there are things Jesus tells us not to tell anybody; they're things Jesus tells us to do that we cannot tell anyone about, things that make sense to only the Lord and ourselves. Indeed, if and when we tell others such things, we do more harm than good both to Jesus and to ourselves.

Look again at the gospel of today, because the man didn't keep quite as told, "Jesus kept to out- of- the- way places, no longer able to move freely in and out of the city."

Imagine Jesus no longer free to move about, and no longer able to operate just because of the good he did to a bad man. The man made a disservice to Jesus' ministry and service just because of his imprudence; the man disobeyed and what would have been a great testimony to the priests went untold. Jesus told the man to tell no one but the priests; the man went out and told everyone but the priests! The priests missed Jesus' message because the man didn't go to them. Yes, there're many things that we cannot and we should not tell anyone about.

This gospel is also about us. That there're things others tell us that we must keep to ourselves, things they share with us that we cannot tell anyone without causing great damage to our friends' reputation. Oh yes, there are brothers and sisters of ours who are no longer moving about freely because we damaged their reputation. In other words, not all we know about others is for telling. "Do not tell anyone" is still a good council to many of us.

Thank God for what you have & share it with Others!

Mark 8:1-10

One day about this time as another great crowd gathered, the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples to discuss the situation. “I pity these people,” he said, “for they have been here three days and have nothing left to eat. And if I send them home without feeding them, they will faint along the road! For some of them have come a long distance.” “Are we supposed to find food for them here in the desert?” his disciples scoffed. “How many loaves of bread do you have?” he asked. “Seven,” they replied. So he told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, broke them into pieces and passed them to his disciples; and the disciples placed them before the people. A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to serve them. And the whole crowd ate until they were full, and afterwards he sent them home. There were about 4,000 people in the crowd that day and when the scraps were picked up after the meal, there were seven very large basketfuls left over!

Food for thought!

Have you ever felt hungly while sitting at a dining table, or felt sick while in hospital, or felt dry while inside a church, or felt in need of love with your spouse around...? This is what the disciples did. They felt empty, insufficient, limited, while in the presence of Jesus. Jesus had said, “I pity these people, for they have been here three days and have nothing left to eat. And if I send them home without feeding them, they will faint along the road! For some of them have come a long distance.” His disciples responded, “Are we supposed to find food for them here in the desert?”

The disciples are frustrated and don't know what to do; they're with Jesus and they're are confused; they've Jesus and don't know what to do; they followed Jesus and don't know him. And so in order to open their eyes, Jesus makes a question to the disciples: “How many loaves of bread do you have?” This question reminds us several things: that sometimes we need what we have, we cry for what we possess, we search for what we already have; we're poor with all our talents and God given gifts with us; we don't see opportunities while God gave us eyes to see; we suffer when we have the cure with us; we starve with food in our hands; we have questions whose answers we know; we're ignorant with our brains in our head; we don't know with all the knowledge around.

How much bread do you have? How much intelligence do you have? How many talents do you have? How many friends do you have? How much luck and opportunities and money do you have? Not much? Do like Jesus did: Giving thanks, he took the seven bread loaves, broke them into pieces, and gave them to his disciples so they could hand them out to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He pronounced a blessing over the fish and told his disciples to hand them out as well. The crowd ate its fill. Seven sacks of leftovers were collected."

Jesus did the following: 1) gave thanks for the seven loaves of bread. In other words, Jesus did not complain but thanked God for what he had. Do you ever thank God for what and whatever you have? 2) Jesus then broke them and shared them. Do you remember to share the little you have, or you think it is too little to share? So there're two things Jesus did to make the miracle: thank God for what and whatever he had; share what and whatever he had. Try this and you will have the miracle done by you. Thank God and share.

Everything he does is wonderful!

Mark 7:31-37

From Tyre he went to Sidon, then back to the Sea of Galilee by way of the Ten Towns. A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and everyone begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man and heal him. Jesus led him away from the crowd and put his fingers into the man’s ears, then spat and touched the man’s tongue with the spittle. Then, looking up to heaven, he sighed and commanded, “Open!” Instantly the man could hear perfectly and speak plainly! Jesus told the crowd not to spread the news, but the more he forbade them, the more they made it known, for they were overcome with utter amazement. Again and again they said, “Everything he does is wonderful; he even corrects deafness and stammering!”

Food for thought!

This story is of a man with double jeopardy! He was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. No doubt the two things went together; it was the man's inability to hear which made his speech so imperfect. This was a special case that needed special handling. There is no miracle which so beautifully shows Jesus' way of treating people.

(i) He took the man aside from the crowd, all by himself. Here is the most tender considerateness of Jesus. Deaf people are always a little embarrassed. In some ways it is more embarrassing to be deaf than it is to be blind. Many times it is only the deaf person who knows that he cannot hear; and when we talk to one, we talk as if we are talking to a normal person, only to find out later that the deaf was not hearing a thing. Jesus showed the most tender consideration for the feelings of a man for whom life was very difficult. The whole story shows us most vividly that Jesus did not consider the man merely a case; he considered him as an individual the man had a special need and a special problem, and with the most tender considerateness Jesus dealt with him in a way that spared his feelings and in a way that he could understand.
We can learn from and after Jesus. When we want to correct someone, we do well to take them aside, away from the public, and speak to them there. Secondly, when we deal with physically challenged people, let us be considerate. We need to learn the philosophy behind Para-Olympics.
(ii) Throughout the whole miracle Jesus acted what he was going to do in dumb-show. He put his hands in the man's ears and touched his tongue with spittle. In those days, as in ours too, people believed that spittle had a curative quality. When we cut our finger, instinctively we put the breeding finger in the mouth. Even today, we believe that saliva is curative!
(iii) Jesus looked up to heaven to show that it was from God that help was to come. Then he spoke the word and the man was healed. We sometimes forget the source of our being and doing. It is God!
Above all we have said so far, there's something worthy of our notice. When the healing was completed the people declared that Jesus had done all things well. That is none other than the verdict of God upon his own creation in the very beginning: "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good." (Gen.1:31).

When Jesus came, bringing healing to men's bodies and salvation to their souls, he had begun the work of creation all over again. In the beginning of the world, everything had been good; God saw everything he created as good. It was man's sin that spoiled and spoils God's creation. And it is Jesus' mission to recreate us; in today's gospel reading, Jesus was bringing back the beauty of God to the man who had lost it. Jesus can do the same to you and me! That's, if we let him.

She came and fell at his feet, and pleaded with him!

Mark 7:24-30

Then he left Galilee and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon, and tried to keep it a secret that he was there, but couldn’t. For as usual the news of his arrival spread fast. Right away a woman came to him whose little girl was possessed by a demon. She had heard about Jesus and now she came and fell at his feet, and pled with him to release her child from the demon’s control. (But she was Syrophoenician—a “despised Gentile”!) Jesus told her, “First I should help my own family—the Jews. It isn’t right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She replied, “That’s true, sir, but even the puppies under the table are given some scraps from the children’s plates.” “Good!” he said. “You have answered well—so well that I have healed your little girl. Go on home, for the demon has left her!” And when she arrived home, her little girl was lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.

Food for thought!

Here is a woman who came to Jesus because she was concerned about her daughter. The woman was no longer in possession of her daughter, since the child was demon possessed. Both the mother and the child needed help in a desperate way. Fortunately, she had heard of Jesus. The Gospel says that “She had heard about Jesus.”
The woman had a problem, but also had a solution. Many of us, if not all of us, have problems, some serious ones, and we don't know where to find the solution; we don't know where to take them to; we don't know where to turn to; we don't know whom to talk to about our problems. Because we don't know where to turn to, we end up going to the wrong people and wrong places.
How many of us can identify with this poor, anxious mother? Perhaps we are dealing with a child that is out of control, lost to drugs or to bad life. Perhaps you are at your wits end over some situation in your life and you desperately need help. Perhaps you have exhausted every means at your disposal and do not know where to turn for help. Whatever the need in your life may be today, you should take a lesson from this woman: Get that need to Jesus! The woman came and knelt at the feet of Jesus begging him for help.
Regardless of what you face in your life today, the answer will be found in Him! He can move your mountain; meet your need; save your soul; forgive your sins; heal your loved ones; you name it, He can do it! But, you have to get it to Him! And in order to get your problem to Him, you have to come to Him; you have to talk to Him, and please don't take "no" for "no". If Jesus seem to take long to attend to you, remember what he said to the woman: "Stand in line and take your turn. The children get fed first." Wait for your turn. It will come; it always does.
In other words, your problem instead of leading you away from Jesus, SHOULD LEAD YOU TO JESUS. Like it did with the woman; and when it eventually leads to him, stay there; don't quit, your turn is coming. Mat 11:28

"Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy- laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest."

It is the thought-life that pollutes!

Mark 7:14-23

Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said,“and try to understand. Your souls aren’t harmed by what you eat, but by what you think and say!” Then he went into a house to get away from the crowds, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the statement he had just made. “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that what you eat won’t harm your soul? For food doesn’t come in contact with your heart, but only passes through the digestive system.” (By saying this he showed that every kind of food is kosher.) And then he added, “It is the thought-life that pollutes. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts of lust, theft, murder, adultery, wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and all other folly. All these vile things come from within; they are what pollute you and make you unfit for God.”

Food for thought!

Jesus is teaching us that our problem are our thoughts, and our thoughts are our problem; The world we see and live in is the one we have created with our thoughts. It is from our thoughts that originate good and eveil like lust, theft, murder, adultery, wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and all other folly. Why is this so? Well, every outward act of sin is preceded by an inward act of thought. Therefore, Jesus warns us of the danger of evil thought from which the evil action comes. 

We are all the products of our own thoughts. Whatever we think, that we become. For that reason, think and say only that which you wish to become true. Never for an instant admit that you are sick, weak, or ill unless you wish to experience these conditions, for the very thinking of them helps them to get a stronger hold upon you. Our whole thought current must be set in the direction of our life purpose. Holding the poverty thought keeps us in touch with poverty producing conditions.

It is the poverty attitude, the narrowness of our thought that has limited us. If we had larger and grander conceptions of life, of our birthright; if, instead of whining, crawling, grumbling, sneaking and apologizing, we were to stand erect and claim our kingship, demand our rich inheritance, the inheritance which is an abundance of all that is good and beautiful and true, we should live far completer, fuller lives.

Great teachers down through the ages have described the importance of our mind and of being master over our thoughts. Buddha said, “The mind is everything; what you think, you become.” Ramakrishna, the Indian mystic put it this way: “By the mind one is bound, by the mind one is freed…. He who asserts with strong conviction, ‘I am not bound, I am free,’ becomes free.” William James wrote, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.” And Jesus says, “It is the thought-life that pollutes. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts of lust, theft, murder, adultery, wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride, and all other folly. All these vile things come from within; they are what pollute you and make you unfit for God.”

God's commandments or Man's traditions!

Mark 7:1-13
The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes. So these Pharisees and scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?’ He answered, ‘It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of scripture:
This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations.
You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’ And he said to them, ‘How ingeniously you get round the commandment of God in order to preserve your own tradition! For Moses said: Do your duty to your father and your mother, and, Anyone who curses father or mother must be put to death. But you say, “If a man says to his father or mother: Anything I have that I might have used to help you is Corban (that is, dedicated to God), then he is forbidden from that moment to do anything for his father or mother.” In this way you make God’s word null and void for the sake of your tradition which you have handed down. And you do many other things like this.’
Food for thought!
You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.
This is a strong statement, especially when made by Jesus against the people of his time. Is it any different Today? Is it possibly true that we do put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions? This is what Jesus is saying that we do. In order to understand Jesus' point, let us remember that the commandments of God are 10 (ten), which I assume you still remember. All the rest are human traditions. Yes, anything beyond and beside the ten commandments is human tradition. These include the traditions, the rules and laws of the church. Yes, these are not commandments of God. This does not mean that they are, therefore bad; they are good in as far as they reinforce the commandments of God. For instance, not eating meat on a Friday is a tradition of the church, not a commandment of God. When you break it you don't go to hell because of it.
In the time of Jesus, the religious scholars (scribes and Pharisees) had transformed the religious rules and traditions into the essence of religion. To observe them was to please God; to break them was to sin. This was their idea of goodness and of the service of God. In the religious sense Jesus and these people spoke different languages. It was precisely because Jesus had no use for all these regulations that they considered him a bad man, just as we consider bad those who don't keep the laws, rules and discipline of our Catholic church.

There is no greater religious peril than that of identifying religion with human traditions and customs. There is no commoner religious mistake than to identify goodness with certain so-called religious traditions. Church-going, bible-reading, careful financial giving, even time-tabled prayers do not make a man a good man just by observing them. The fundamental question is, how is our heart towards God and towards our brother or sister? And if in our heart there is enmity, bitterness, grudges, pride, not all the outward religious observances in the world will make us anything other than a hypocrite.

And all those who touched him were cured!

Mark 6:53-56

Mark 6:53-56
Having made the crossing, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up. No sooner had they stepped out of the boat than people recognised him, and started hurrying all through the countryside and brought the sick on
stretchers to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, to village, or
town, or farm, they laid down the sick in the open spaces, begging him to let
them touch even the fringe of his cloak. And all those who touched him were
cured.

Food for thought!

All who touched him were cured!
This is more than a summary statement; it is a statement of fact: all who touch
Jesus are cured. Do you notice that this time it is not Jesus touching the
people, but the people touching Jesus? In other words, when Jesus touches us he heals us; but also when we touch him we get healed. What is the difference?

Normally we see Jesus touching the sick in order to heal them. This is what we
usually see. But the contrary is also true: we can and should touch Jesus. And
this is what the people did: "wherever he went, to village, or town, or farm,
they (the people) laid down the sick in the open spaces, begging him to let them touch even the fringe of his cloak." It is interesting to note that the people were not begging Jesus to touch their sick, but to let the sick touch him!

And all those who touched him were cured. This statement means that those, and only those, who went to Jesus and literary touched him, were cured. What was in this touch? Well, all of us do need either to be touched or to touch someone. Touch is a language that speaks more eloquently than words; when we touch we say much more than we would with words. Those sick people said much more to Jesus by their touch than they would with their mouths.

Did you ever realize that the first thing a new baby gets from its mother is a hug, an embrace, a touch? The nurses make sure that the mother embraces the baby; that she touches the baby. The Book of Genesis says that God formed us by touch: "Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being." (Gen. 2:7).

Whom do you touch regularly? Who touches you regularly? When do you want or like to be touched? Do you ever get and give a healing touch? Because positive touch has a healing power, all those who touched Jesus were healed.

From word of God to God of the word; from work of God to God of the work!

Mark 1:29-39

Then, leaving the synagogue, he and his disciples went over to Simon and Andrew’s home, where they found Simon’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. He went to her bedside, and as he took her by the hand and helped her to sit up, the fever suddenly left, and she got up and prepared dinner for them!

By sunset the courtyard was filled with the sick and demon-possessed, brought to him for healing; and a huge crowd of people from all over the city of Capernaum gathered outside the door to watch. So Jesus healed great numbers of sick folk that evening and ordered many demons to come out of their victims. (But he refused to allow the demons to speak, because they knew who he was.) The next morning he was up long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray. Later, Simon and the others went out to find him, and told him, “Everyone is asking for you.” But he replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and give my message to them too, for that is why I came.” So he traveled throughout the province of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and releasing many from the power of demons.

Food for thought!
Do you notice Jesus' day and life? And do you see any similarity with yours? Jesus began his day in the synagogue. Synagogues were places of listening to the Word of God; sacrifices were done only at Jerusalem. So Jesus started his day at the Lord's feet, listening to the Word of God.
From listening to the word of God, Jesus went to work. In other words, the word of God prepared him for work; it should prepare us too for our work. FROM WORD OF GOD TO WORK OF GOD. God's word prepares us to go to God's work. Each one of us has or should have some work to do. And all our work, all that we do, our job, is ultimately God's work. We're all serving the Lord. There's no work that is too small to qualify as work of God. That's why we must always do well whatever we do; we're serving God when we serve God's people.
Work, work, and work is no good work! The gospel says "The next morning he was up long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray."Jesus began the day with the word of God, then went to the work of God, now he finishes the day with God. I hope you understand the difference between the work of God and the God of work. We cannot let the work of God make us forget the God of our work; we cannot work 24/7. It is not good for our bodies and souls.
As Jesus was praying, people were meanwhile looking for him; they still needed his services; they wanted more of him. "Everybody's looking for you." They said. To everyone's surprise, including ourselves, Jesus didn't heed to the people's plea. He instead said, "We must go on to other towns as well, and give my message to them too, for that is why I came."

Sometimes it is ok to leave the people of God and attend to the God of the our people!

It is a must that we find some rest after work!

Mark 6:30-34

The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. So they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But people saw them going, and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.
Food for thought!
The day before yesterday, Jesus sent his disciples for a mission, for the first time; he sent them out. And they went, for the first time, ALONE, without him. Every day, every week, every time, the Lord sends us to go to some mission, at our place of work. It is good to know that, whatever our job, we are all serving the Lord. The Lord sends us as he sent the twelve disciples. And he sends us alone!
Jesus does not only send us off to work for him, he also receives us from work. Like the disciples, we do well to rejoin the Lord and to tell him all we did during the day, during the week, and one day we shall tell him all we did in life. Yes, Jesus expects us to tell him about our job, our work, our endeavours; Jesus tells us what to do and he listens to what we do.
Something very enthusing: Jesus said to his disciples when they had come back from work: You MUST come away to some lonely place all by yourself and rest for a while. Notice the way Jesus puts it: MUST. Resting is not facultative, not optional but compulsory, mandatory, obligatory and required; it is must to rest.
Some times it is absolutely necessary to get away all by ourselves, and leave or abandon the people. This is what the disciples did, at the command of Jesus; they were being overwhelmed by so many people who were coming and going to the point of not having any time to even eat. How many times are we like these disciples? How many times are we so overwhelmed by the demands of other people that we forget to eat and rest and take care of our life?

May you and I learn to go away to some lonely place all by ourselves and rest for while; it is a must.

The death of the conscience!

Mark 6:14-29

King Herod soon heard about Jesus, for his miracles were talked about everywhere. The king thought Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life again. So the people were saying, “No wonder he can do such miracles.” Others thought Jesus was Elijah the ancient prophet, now returned to life again; still others claimed he was a new prophet like the great ones of the past. “No,” Herod said, “it is John, the man I beheaded. He has come back from the dead.”

For Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John because he kept saying it was wrong for the king to marry Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. Herodias wanted John killed in revenge, but without Herod’s approval she was powerless. And Herod respected John, knowing that he was a good and holy man, and so he kept him under his protection. Herod was disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so he liked to listen to him.
Herodias’s chance finally came. It was Herod’s birthday and he gave a stag party for his palace aides, army officers, and the leading citizens of Galilee.Then Herodias’s daughter came in and danced before them and greatly pleased them all. “Ask me for anything you like,” the king vowed, “even half of my kingdom, and I will give it to you!” She went out and consulted her mother, who told her, “Ask for John the Baptist’s head!” So she hurried back to the king and told him, “I want the head of John the Baptist—right now—on a tray!”
Then the king was sorry, but he was embarrassed to break his oath in front of his guests. So he sent one of his bodyguards to the prison to cut off John’s head and bring it to him. The soldier killed John in the prison, and brought back his head on a tray, and gave it to the girl and she took it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard what had happened, they came for his body and buried it in a tomb.

Food for thought!

THE DEATH OF A CONSCIENCE
As sad as John's death, as sad as the death of a holy man is the death of anyone's conscience. Our conscience is a kind of John implanted into our hearts to speak in the name of God, praising us when we do well and rebuking us when we sin. This is exactly what John was doing: “he kept saying it was wrong for the king to marry Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.” Our conscience does the same: it denounces the sin we do. No wonder we try, and sometimes we succeed, to kill and eliminate it, like Herod did.
And talking of Herod. The gospel says that “Herod was disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so he liked to listen to him.” Herod hated John for exposing his sin. However, he still wanted John around; he both hated and loved John; he liked the preacher but hated the preaching; he loved the messenger but hated the message. As a result, when Herod heard John, he was perplexed and confused. In other words, his conscience and guilt bothered him. The guilt over what he did was eating him alive. He knows he killed an innocent, decent and good man. His conscience is bothering him and he is sure that John the Baptist has come back to haunt him.

That is the power of guilt! It will eat you alive. You can’t run from it. You can’t hide from it. You can’t escape its words. It shows up when you are alone. Guilt comes calling in the dead of night. It gnaws at the soul and eats away at the mind. The only solution for guilt over past sins is to bring those sins to Jesus. When they are brought to Him, Jesus forgives the sin and removes the guilt. He can set us free from the monster of guilt! Jesus is the lamb of God that takes away our sins, John the Baptist told us.

And if any place does not welcome you...!

Mark 6:7-13

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic.’ And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district. And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away shake off the dust from under your feet as a sign to them.’ So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.

Food for thought!

This is the first time that Jesus sends out his disciples. It is like sending them for an internship after training them. Jesus is here acting many things: he is acting like a teacher, a manager, a leader, a trainer or coach. Everything Jesus does in this reading is worth noting: he sends the Twelve in pairs, he
gives them authority, he instructs them on dos and don'ts, and finally he prepares them for both success and failure. Let us look at each one of these.

Sends them in pairs. The lesson is clear. We never realize great things alone; we may dream alone, but we cannot realize our dreams alone; we need others. We need a friend, a good friend, who walks not in front of us (for us to follow), who walks not behind us (for us to lead), but who walks beside us, as a friend. Do you have someone like this?

Gives them authority. Jesus never sends us to do anything without equipping us for it. He always equips us for whatever he sends us to do; he gives authority. What is authority? The word authority comes from Latin "augere" to augment, to increase, to multiply. The first time we were given authority was in Old Testament: "God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply (increase), and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Gen. 1:28). Jesus came to recreate us; to make us increase; to make us do more and be more.

Instructed them: take nothing but the staff. What does this mean? Well, remember Moses' staff in the OT. He carried a stick (staff) by his side throughout the desert and used it in all the important milestones in the desert, like to divide and close the Red Sea, to produce water from a rock, to invoke plagues on the Egyptians, and on several occasion was transformed into a snake and back. The staff stands therefore for the power of God. Jesus empowers his own. That is why he told them never to trust in anything, except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. What we all need is the power of God, the staff; the rest is rest.

Success & Failure. Jesus warns us to expect both success and failure in our endeavours. Whatever comes, and whenever it comes take it. If success comes your way, take it; if it is failure take it and move on; don't hold on your past successes or failures; keep going forward. Jesus is teaching us that problems and failures are inevitable in the life of anyone who seeks to make a difference in life. Even with all instructions from Jesus, even with all academic degrees, even with all experience, we are bound to fail sometimes. And Jesus knows it. That's why he teaches his disciples not only how to win but also how to loose.

Jesus is saying to us, when we loose, not to dwell too long on the loss and allow it to rob our lives of enthusiasm and joy. So we must learn to shake off the dust of yesterday’s failure from our feet, otherwise it will cling to us and accumulate and weigh us down. The result is depression and despair. We give up. We quit instead of going on to a new village, to a new project, to new opportunities. But Jesus does not want us to be quitters. He wants us to be women and men who move on, despite losses and disappointments. Move on!